Your First Case
by collegegirl52
Summary: Wonder what your first case will be like? Here it is for first-time profiler,SSA Maggie McMahon! Hotch/OFC friendship. My first CM fanfic! A bit AU.
1. Prologue

**This is my first attempt at a CM story and I really want to get some feedback on this.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds expect my own characters.**

**Title:** Your First Case  
**Author:** collegegirl52  
**Rating:** T  
**Genre:** Friendship/Drama  
**Pairing: **Hotch/OFC ~ Friendship  
**Summary:** Wonder what your first case will be like? Here it is for first-time profiler SSA Maggie McMahon!  
**Notes: **My first CM fanfic and more will be coming soon after this if the story get well-off.**  
**

**

* * *

**

**Prologue****:**

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

September 1998

Maggie McMahon was only fourteen years old when she figured out what she really wants to be after she's done with school and it started like this.

The moment school was over at three o'clock in the afternoon and after getting off the stone steps of Edward Bok Technical High School and ran all the way home a few blocks away in under five minutes to make her father, Robert take her to the library to return some books, magazines and videos she borrowed from them and get some new books, check and see if the library get any of the latest issues out of her favorite magazines and to get any new videos to watch or get her favorites instead even through that it might drive her older sister crazy but it didn't happened right away. It got postponed.

Because of that, the moment Maggie ran over to the small street, did the same all the way down to the two-story house she lived at with her family since Kindergarten at the end of the street, and once she reached her home, walked up the small amount of stairs, and the moment she got to the front door, she knocked on the door to see if her father's here and if the fifty years old man's inside, Maggie can jokily say to her, "Dad, hurry up now. It's time to go to the library. You know the drill."

But that didn't happened and after about thirty seconds of waiting, the door still didn't opened. Thinking that her father might be upstairs and can't hear her knocking on the door, Maggie had to use her key instead.

After looking through her junk-filled backpack for her chain of keys, Maggie finally founded it and the moment she founded the key to fit into the door lock, she put it in, turned the doorknob around with her hand, and the door was finally wide opened. Seconds after seeing that, Maggie walked into her living room and the moment she put her backpack on the sofa and started looking for her father when she heard voices in the kitchen. One of the voices sounded like her mother, Mary but the other voice sounded like someone else. It sounded like a male voice. A different male voice that isn't her father.

"What is going on around here?" thought Maggie when she heard that voice of the stranger and to see who is the man that isn't her father, Maggie walked over to the kitchen opening and when she looked through it, she saw her redheaded mother, half-talking and half-sobbing to a man with from where Maggie was at, a head of short dark brown hair.

Seeing that and still wanting to know about what is going on around here, Maggie walked into the kitchen but stopped when Mary's green eyes and the man who was talking to's dark brown eyes were staring at her and her mother was asking her, "Maggie, what are you doing here?"

Staring at her mother's eyes with her blue ones, Maggie looked at Mary and told her that she just came from school and was looking for Dad to go to the library to return some stuff but the moment she saw the man's face, Maggie was starting to think that the man in front of her was a serious mirror image of that man from that TV show, Dharma and Greg, Greg something but that didn't mattered right now because from staring at his face to down to her waist where a gold badge was sitting on one of his belt loops on his suit pants to all the way to her mother's weeping face and asked to them, "Did something bad had happened to Dad?"

After a minute of silence, Mary grabbed a tissue from out of a box and wiping her tears off her face, Mary put the damp white tissue down on the kitchen table and looked at her youngest daughter's face and answered her question by saying to her, "Maggie, I'm sorry to tell you this but you know about those recent unsolved murder cases from the news station and the newspapers, honey?"

Knowing about those because she read every newspaper out there in Philadelphia and watched the local news every time she got, Maggie nodded to her mother and said to her mother, "Yeah, Mom. I know about those. Why are you asking me this? Did something bad had happened to Dad?"

Mary took a few seconds to think about it but seconds later, she looked at her daughter's face again and with a sad look on her face, Mary McMahon told her daughter, Maggie that her father been murdered earlier that day and the suspect probably might be that person from the news stories recently from the profiling.

Hearing the bad news and don't knowing what profiling is, Maggie didn't had time to cry her eyes out and asked them, "What that means?"

The moment she told the two adults that question, the man next to her mother stood up and held his hand out to Maggie and said to her, "Hello, Maggie. I'm agent Aaron Hotchner from the BAU unit of the FBI." After hearing that greeting, Maggie shook Agent Hotchner's hand and the moment she shook it and let it go, she looked at him a little funny and asked him, "BAU? That likes profiling serial killers, right?"

Before hearing a 'Maggie, don't!' from her mother who sometimes treated Maggie like a four years old, Hotchner didn't let Mary do that to her daughter by saying to her, "Ma'am. Let your daughter ask me that."

"Okay, then." said Mary who took a minute to think that in and now, sitting down on her chair while watching the agent explaining to her daughter what BAU means.

"Ms. McMahon, that kind of what BAU do but the Behavioral Analysis Unit or BAU means that we assistance to law enforcement agencies like Philly PD here is provided through the process of 'criminal investigative analysis'. "

"What that means?" asked Maggie for the second time. Hotchner took his time on this one by saying to her, "Ms. McMahon, Criminal investigative analysis is a process of reviewing crimes from both a behavioral and investigative perspective. It involves reviewing and assessing the facts of a criminal act, interpreting offender behavior, and interaction with the victim, as exhibited during the commission of the crime, or as displayed in the crime scene."

"Also, BAU staff conduct detailed analyses of crimes for the purpose of providing one or more of the following services: crime analysis, investigative suggestions, profiles of unknown offenders, threat analysis, critical incident analysis, interview strategies, major case management, search warrant assistance, prosecutive and trial strategies, and expert testimony."

After hearing all of those things, Maggie crossed her arms and said to Agent Hotchner, "And so, are you telling that you work with the police to hunt down serial killers and put them in jail?" In return, Hotchner nodded to her and said to her with a slight grin, "Yes, the BAU does that and from the few months that I work for them, the people that we founded as the serial killers were unbelievable. Nothing like you ever imagined."

The moment she heard that, Maggie was about to tell him that his job sounded cool until her overprotective mother told her something that made her stop.

"Maggie, honey. Can you leave the kitchen right now so Agent Hotchner can ask me some more questions?" Pissed off about this but doesn't want to show it to her mother, Maggie quietly told her mother that she's fine with that and walked over to the fridge to get herself a bottle of coke to drink while doing some homework or reading a book. Once she passed her mother and Agent Hotchner out of the kitchen doorway, she cursed some foul words under her mother's breath for making her leave while Maggie wanted to learn more from Agent Hotchner who she thinks that he had a nice career ahead of him.

Fifteen minutes later, Maggie was doing her English essay when she saw Agent Hotchner leaving their home and once he was at the door, Maggie looked at him and waved at him while smiling at him. After seeing that wave and smile, Hotchner turned around and gave a wave to her while showing her a slight grin on his face.

Maggie felt her face blushing red when he did that and left the McMahons' home to go somewhere else when at the same moment, Maggie's older sister, Linda came into their home from coming back from her high school up north of the city and after closing the door, she turned around to her sister, saw her blushing red and asked her, "Maggie, why are you blushing?"

**So, what you think about it? **


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

_September 2009_

_Eleven years later_

_Arlington, Virginia_

_--  
_

"Ma!"

A sleepy Maggie McMahon heard her child's voice, saying what the child calls her mother and the moment she heard that, Maggie quietly groaned to that and pretended that she didn't heard that and went back to her sleep.

Seconds after heading back to her sleep, Maggie's daughter started doing it again but with louder volume and stepping closer to the queen-sized bed.

"MA!"

Hearing that again, Maggie groaned to herself and to not let her daughter jump on the bed to wake up her twenty five years old mother just like last time, Maggie opened her eyelids and founded right beside her, a small girl with curly dark brown hair, azure blue eyes, and a big smile on her face named Lucy Vivienne McMahon.

"Morning', Ma!" said the four years old girl who was made at Temple University almost five years back by a young, smart woman who drank a drink with a roofie in it at a frat party and had sex with a stranger that night. Maggie founded out that she got pregnant from that experience and even through that she never saw the father of the child again, she got a lot of help from her family and Aaron Hotchner who still speaks to the family after Robert McMahon's murder had been solved to check on them and see if they are doing.

Speaking of the man who checks on the McMahons, Lucy whose full name means 'light of life' still had that big smile on her cute face when she heard her mother's voice asking her after a few yawns, "Morning, Lucy! What time is it?"

Being such a smart girl that she is and without looking at the clock, Lucy said to her mother with a sweet voice, "Dark!"

Hearing that and turning her body around to see the time herself, she looked at the orange digits on the alarm clock and saw that the time was only five minutes after five in the morning.

Seeing that she got woken up by her daughter at five in the morning and Lucy is wide awake now, Maggie turned back to her daughter and asked her with a slight smile on her face, "Lucy, are you wide awake right now?"

With the same smile on her face, Lucy just nodded to her mother, telling her that the answer is yes.

Knowing that Lucy had woken up quite early that morning because she had fallen asleep on Aaron's lap after having one slice of pizza that Aaron brought over to Maggie and Lucy's new apartment yesterday after Maggie put the last of her things out of the moving boxes the weekend she moved her daughter from Philadelphia to Virginia to start working for the BAU as a profiler with Aaron Hotchner as her new boss and Aaron dropped Jack off at Haley's before heading off to Maggie's place for dinner.

On the morning of her first day of work at BAU and wondering why Lucy had woke her up at five in the morning instead of later, Maggie said to her daughter, "Lucy, come into bed with that?"

Listening to that, Lucy told her sure before heading off to the space her mother had saved for her and after sitting down on the cream-colored bed and looking at her mother's blue with her own blue eyes, Maggie looked at her daughter's eyes and with a smile on her face, she asked her daughter, "Luce, why did you woke me up this early?"

With no explanation, Lucy answered her mother's question by saying to her, "To get you ready for your first day of work with Uncle Aaron. That probably what he want from you!"

"Luce, I'm pretty sure that Uncle Aaron doesn't want me to wake up at five in the morning to get ready for work." said Maggie who disagreed with her daughter about getting up early in the morning to work.

Starting to clash with her young mother right now, Lucy disagreed with Maggie and to say so, Lucy just nodded her head and said to Maggie, "No, Ma. Uncle Aaron told me so."

Confused of what she heard from her daughter, Maggie gave her a weird look on her face and asked Lucy, "Lucy, when he told you that?"

Without a beat, Lucy told her that last night, when Aaron put her on her bed and put the covers over her, Aaron whispered to her to that when she wakes up in the next morning, make sure that she go to her mother's room to wake her up bright and early to get ready for her first day of work, okay. "Are you fine with that, Ma?"

After hearing that from her daughter, Maggie took a lot of thinking into this and after making sure that she'll have a talk with Aaron about this the first time she sees him, Maggie looked at her daughter's eyes again and said to her, "Fine, Luce. I'm fine with that and since you woke me up already and I am wide awake right now, how about that we get out of bed right now and get ready to start the day!"

"Okay with that, Lucy?"

In return, Lucy nodded to her Ma after agreeing with that and together, they got out of the bed and once they are standing next to each other, the two McMahon girls grabbed each other's hand and walked out of the master bedroom through the opened door to head over to Lucy's room to get her ready for her first day of day-care and for Maggie, to start her first day of work at the BAU.

**Want to see Maggie meet the team? The next one will be coming up pretty soon! Also, R&R please!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: If you saw the end of the fourth season finale (you know, when the Reaper hold Hotch at his apartment at gunpoint and then, it just went blank) or read the spoilers about Hotch being shot at and at the ER of a hospital when…. before I tell you too much about it but this didn't exists in my story because Hotch kicks the Reaper's butt and the reaper is finally dead. I know, this wouldn't happen but well, one of the agents got hurt in this one anyway. Find out which one!**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Two**

_A few hours later_

_BAU_

_Quantico, Virginia _

_--  
_

Emily Prentiss and Derek Morgan was talking to Spencer Reid over the speaker phone, telling him to get well soon. They are doing that because well, Reid is at his home, recovering from knee surgery at his apartment for six weeks before he comes back to work again. Why Reid had surgery on his knee and couldn't work?

This is the results from a prank gone wrong.

Hearing the groaning from the pain on Reid's knee and over the phone, Emily heard Reid's voice saying to her and Morgan in pain, "Morgan, this is your entire fault!"

Getting blamed from Reid, Morgan got a little frustrated about this and over the speaker; he said to Reid, "Don't blame this on me, Reid! The prank wasn't supposed to be that way."

"No, it's not!" said Reid again.

The moment he heard that, Morgan calmly explained to Reid by saying to him, "Reid, yes it is! If I wetted the floor a thousand feet away from your desk and put the wet floor sign over there, then maybe that you didn't slide on it, didn't hurt your knee, needed surgery, and had to stay at home for six whole weeks."

But Reid disagreed with that and in return, a half-in pain Reid said back to Morgan who was done explaining to the young man, "But it did happened and when I come back in six weeks, I am going to put a better prank on you and if you fall for it, then you will be in the same pain that I'm in right now."

"No, it will not, kid!"

"Yes, it will!"

"No, it will not!"

"Yes, it will!"

"Not, it will not, Reid and this is final!"

Before Reid can tell him some more, Emily got tired about this and speaking into the phone, she said to Reid, "Reid, can you please don't say another word to Morgan?" The moment Reid was about to tell her, 'but', Emily looked over at Morgan across from her and with a slightly angry look on her face, she said to him, "And Morgan, don't do the same thing to Reid, okay?"

Confused, Morgan stared Emily's face and asked her, "Why?"

In return, a slight smile appeared on Emily's face when she answered Morgan's question by saying to him, "Because your argument with Reid is very stupid and what if the new agent who is replacing Reid for the next few weeks comes over there, saw this and you ended up giving McMahon a pretty horrific first impression on his first day."

Morgan just stared at the brunette and with a grin on his smooth, chocolate-skinned face; he asked Emily, "Why did you think that McMahon had to be a he?"

At the phone, Reid was also thinking about this and asked Emily too, "Yeah, why McMahon had to be a he?"

About to explain this to the two men, Emily was about to open to her mouth when she heard somebody's voice asking her, "Hi, can you help me with something?"

Hearing that voice and wanting to see who is asking her for her help, Emily turned around and founded a young woman who looked like around her height with long reddish-brown hair framing her face, soft blue eyes, and a slight smile on her face in a gray, fitted pantsuit over a white shirt with a FBI ID pinned on the pocket of the woman's blazer.

Seeing the woman's face staring at her with that smile on her face, Emily smiled at her and said to the woman, "Yeah, I can help you with it. What's it?"

With the same smile on her face, the woman stared at Emily and over to Morgan with her blue eyes before asking Emily, "Can you tell me where Aaron Hotchner's office is at?"

Helping the woman with the directions to Hotch's office, Emily smiled at the woman while telling her that if you goes up the stairs and at the first door you sees, that is Hotch's office.

After explaining that to her, the woman followed all the words the woman in front of her told her and once she understood it, the woman smiled at Emily and said to her, "Thanks."

"No problem." said a smiling Emily. The woman smiled back at her, thanking her again before turning around, walking over to the stairs, went up those stairs and heading over to Hotch's office.

Watching the woman heading over to Hotch's office, Emily and Morgan stared at her from their desks while Reid was asking them, "Was that her, the new agent?"

"Yup." said Morgan who finally agreed with Reid on this for the first time that morning, the woman who just talked to Emily might be McMahon.

Truly disagreeing with that, Emily turned to Morgan and the phone and said to the two men she was talking with, "No, it's not! That woman was not McMahon."

Wanting her to see the truth, Morgan pointed his finger at Hotch's office window and just told Emily to look at the window.

Emily followed Morgan's pointer finger up to Hotch's window and was very disappointed the moment she saw the woman she was talking to earlier, shaking Hotch's hands with the woman and then, sat down on the chairs and starting talking.

Seeing them talking and Hotch giving the woman he is talking to a smile on his face that none of them hadn't saw before right now, Emily stared at her and said to herself, "Oh, damn it!"

Seconds after saying, Garcia was pacing over to them while asking Emily and Morgan, "Is he here yet? Is he here yet?", referring to the male agent from the Philadelphia office who she thinks is coming to the BAU that day.

Moments after hearing that, Emily turned to Garcia and answered her question without trying to give Penelope Garcia a disappointed look on her face by saying, "Yeah, the agent just came here a few minutes ago."

"Where?" asked a smiling Garcia.

In a few seconds, Morgan pointed his finger to Hotch's window. After following her friend's finger to Hotch's window, the normally happy Garcia's face just turned upside down the moment she saw a woman, not a man, talking to Hotch and said to that moment, "No! That can't be! I even looked trough McMahon's records on the database or maybe that I got the wrong McMahon?" and was very disappointed about this.

Seeing his baby girl upset and the moment she walked over to Morgan's desk and sat down, Morgan put her arm around her and comforted her by saying softly to her, "Don't be sad about this, Baby Girl. Maybe this McMahon will be better than the male one you wanted and dreaming about last week."

Still disappointed of what she saw, Penelope Garcia just stared at him and playfully punched him on the arm, telling him to don't mess with her at this sad moment.

--

**I don't know that this chapter is good enough but I wrote it anyway and it seems good. What did you guys thought about it?**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

_Seconds before Garcia came into the story_

_Hotch's Office_

_BAU_

_Quantico, Virginia_

_--_

Aaron Hotchner was working on some paperwork at his desk when he heard a knock on his door. Hearing that and his eyes on the piece of lined paper, he said to the person who was knocking on the door, "Come in."

He heard the door being opened and closed right away before he heard the person's footsteps coming toward him and seconds later, he heard her voice.

"Hello, Aaron."

Hearing Maggie McMahon's nice and sweet voice, Hotch looked up from his half-written paper and with a smile on his face, he saw Maggie there, standing over him with her blue eyes and a kind smile on her face.

Seeing the woman's face, Hotch smiled at her while standing up from his chair and extending his hand over to her before saying to her, "Hey, Maggie. How was your morning?"

Shaking Hotch's hand, Maggie smiled at him one more time and answered Hotch's question by saying to him, " Somewhat, good."

After hearing that, the both of them sat down on their chairs and hearing that question, Hotch was slightly disappointed of that answer and staring at Maggie's calm-looking face, he asked her another question.

"Mags, why you meant 'somewhat, good'?"

The moment he saw the look that Maggie had on her face when she wanted to ask a person a serious question, Hotch knew that Maggie is aiming a question at him and before he can say anything, Maggie started asking him the dreadful question.

"Aaron, did you asked Lucy to wake me up at five in the morning to get me ready for my first day of work last night?"

Hotch definitely remembered the moment he had with Lucy last night but planning to pretend that he doesn't remembered that at all, he stared at Maggie and said to her, "No, I don't recalled that at all, Mags."

"No, you not, Aaron. Lucy told me all about it when she woke me up at five in the morning and I asked her that question."

Before Hotch can tell her anything, Maggie spoke to him some more with a slight smile on her face.

"Aaron, don't disagree with me on this because in her own words, Lucy told me that her Uncle Aaron put her on the bed and put the covers over her, you whispered to her to that when she wakes up in the next morning, make sure that she go to her mother's room to wake her up bright and early to get ready for her first day of work, okay."

Remembered that also right now, to not let her talk some more about that and hopefully that JJ will come over to the office and tell him that she got a new case for them and if it interests him, they can head over to work on it without any problems, Hotch gave her a slender smile on his face while raising his hands a little to Maggie and said to her.

"Okay, Maggie. You caught me there. I whispered to her that when she wakes up this morning, she had to make sure that she goes to your room to wake you up bright and early to get ready for your first day of work here."

"Are you fine with this, Mags?"

After saying that to Maggie, Hotch watched her face to see if she agrees with him which happened a few seconds later when Maggie looked at Hotch with her blue eyes and a smirk on her face and said to the older man in front of her, "Yeah, Aaron. I'm fine with that."

Hotch smiled at Maggie McMahon for that and in return, Maggie smiled at him as well. Once they smiled at each other, they talked some more before there was another knock on the door.

"Come in." said Hotch when he heard the knock on the door.

The moment he heard that, the door was finally opened and right now in the office and carrying some manila files in her arms, JJ smiled at Hotch when she said to him, "Morning, Hotch. I got a new case for you from Pennsylvania. Want to hear it?"

Before he can answer JJ's question, he noticed that Maggie is still in his office and knowing what to do for this moment, Hotch got up from his chair and referring to his friend, "Yeah, JJ. I want to hear it but I had to introduce you to someone."

Noticing that Hotch had the new agent who is replacing Reid for the next six weeks and like Emily and Garcia, JJ had thought that the new agent was a man but she guessed that she also got wrong about the gender of the agent. Damn you, database!

Seeing the new woman agent who was staring at Hotch and then, to JJ while sitting on the chair across from the one Hotch was sitting on before standing up to introduce the women to each other, JJ smiled at the new agent and seconds later, the new agent smiled at her as well when Hotch introduced the women to each other by greeting them.

"JJ, this is agent Maggie McMahon from the Philadelphia Field Office, the agent who is replacing Reid for the next few weeks. Maggie, this is Jennifer Jareau or what we call her, JJ, our Media Liaison."

Extending her free hand over to Maggie to shake, JJ smiled at her and said to her, "Hi, I'm JJ." Holding JJ's hand and giving it a firm shake, Maggie smiled at her and said to JJ, "Maggie."

After watching JJ and Maggie shaking their hands, Hotch watched them talking to each other with smiles on their faces until he realized something.

He wants to learn about the case that JJ got for him and the team from Pennsylvania.

Don't want to interrupt their conversation but he had to do it, Hotch got up from his chair again and walking over to JJ and Maggie and once he got near them, Hotch interrupted the women's conversation by telling to them, "Girls, I am very sorry to interrupted your conversation but I had to ask you something, JJ."

Turning her head slightly to Hotch, JJ smiled at her and said to him, "Hey, Hotch. What's it?"

In return, Hotch asked her if she can tell him and Maggie about the case.

--

**Still not sure about this chapter and what you guys thought about this? Was this what you thought of? **


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: I am very, very sorry about the long hiatus for this because there was so many things going on with my life even through that I thought about the fic a few times and had some ideas for it but couldn't write it on the word document and so, one of my new year resolutions is to write more for this story and finish it up and another thing, this is going a bit AU (since we know what had happened so far this season….) and a kind of a light casefile because I am well, not so good doing cop stuff but I am glad to come back here and hope you'll enjoy this chapter and the following chapters as well.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Four**

After hearing Hotch's question about the upcoming case, JJ stared at him and said to him, "Sure, Hotch. I'll tell you about the case." and right away, JJ handed him one of the manila folders and begin to tell him and Maggie about the case.

Hotch listened to JJ talking about the case when he notices that Maggie is now a few inches east of him, also, staring and listening to JJ with interest, wanting to learn about the case as much as he is and now from the look of it, Hotch knew right away that Maggie McMahon will do a good job as a profiler as he like her to be.

"Thirty minutes ago, I got a call from Detective Matthew Clark with the Philly PD, asking for our help with an unusual case."

"How unusual?" asked Hotch who want to know about how unusual it is.

"Not much unusual, Hotch but it does look serious." answered by JJ.

After thinking about it for a few seconds, Hotch looked at JJ and then at Maggie for a second before coming back to JJ and said to her, "I'll take a file and please tell Detective Clark right away and say yes to the case and also, tell everybody to come to the conference room in a hour as well."

The moment she heard that, JJ smiled at Hotch one more time while saying to him, "Sure do, Hotch" and before turning to Maggie with the same smile she gave Hotch while saying to her, "Nice to finally meet you, Maggie. I'm pretty sure that it will be a pleasure to work with you the next few weeks."

Glad to hear that from JJ, Maggie gave her a smile and said back to her, "It's nice to hear that, JJ and I am sure as well that it'll be a pleasure to work with you too."

Hearing that, JJ smiled at the new agent, telling her thanks before turning to Hotch and gave him a file he requested before walking back to the door and left the office.

Watching JJ leaving the office, Hotch sat back on his chair and begin to look through the case to see what's in it when he noticed Maggie sitting on one of the chairs in front of the desk and carefully looking at what she can tell of the case while asking, "How unusual is the case, Aaron?"

Studying the case and listening to Maggie's question at the same time, he answered, "Not sure about how unusual about this but will find out soon and Maggie?"

"Yeah?" said Maggie who heard her name and now watching Hotch looking up to her slowly and right away, she heard one of the most important rules about him and the work she is in.

"Maggie, please don't call me by my first name here. It's just Hotch, not Aaron."

Hearing the nickname of his surname, Maggie just told him that she's okay with it and almost called him by Aaron at the end of the sentence but quickly called him Hotch instead. She saw the end of Hotch's lips curled up a bit, almost developing a smile before it disappears and she knew right away that he likes it.

~:~

When she and Hotch went to the conference room to meet the rest of her teammates, most of them are there. Beside JJ, Hotch introduced Maggie to the woman who she asked about where Hotch's office is at earlier, Emily Prentiss, and the man she saw Emily with, a handsome, black and charming but he seems like a ladies' man from the moment he smiled at her named Derek Morgan.

But lastly for now, she meets David Rossi who she know from his books and also from Hotch's conversations with her over the phone for the past year or so but he seems older in person than she thought that he could be and told him that she know about him from his books only and that he's an excellent profiler, not from her conversations with Hotch. She doesn't want her new teammates to know about that yet.

In return and after shaking Maggie's hand, Rossi smiled at her and said to her, "It's a pleasure to hear that from you, Agent McMahon. Nice to meet you too."

The moment she heard that from Rossi, Maggie smiled at him for that and before she can do anymore, JJ is about to start her presentation and immediately, the agents sat down on their chairs to learn about the case.

About twenty minutes into the presentation of someone murdering four people with each of them with different racial and social class backgrounds but they had only one thing in common: all of their personal items were taken by the UnSub when they were left for rotten at the crime scenes.

After talking about figuring out what the type of UnSub would be (it would be anyone who had a negative input on their personal lives), Hotch stood up from his chair and told everybody to pack up their things and they will be leaving in a hour to not let another person in Philadelphia die like this if they make it to Philadelphia by dusk and also, told Maggie to come with him to his office to have a talk.

When they watched Hotch and Maggie leaving the conference room, their first impressions of Maggie McMahon came out of their mouths the moment the door was closed.

"She seems like a really nice person and she looks like that she could be a really great help to the team." said Emily, remembering about Maggie's contributions to the conversation which made some of it sense well.

Across the table, Derek agreed with Emily on that but he ended up noticed something about Maggie, especially with Hotch. "Yeah, she seems like a great help to us while Reid is on leave but I also noticed something else about her."

"Yeah, I noticed that too. Thanks for reminding me, Morgan." said Rossi who is also agreeing about what Morgan is thinking about.

For one moment, Emily looked confused about this and asked the men, "Are you guys talking about? I didn't notice about anything that you both were talking about McMahon."

Rossi looked at Emily after hearing that and immediately said to her, "Oh God. You didn't notice that one bit, Emily Prentiss."

"Notice what?" asked Emily again. She didn't understand what David Rossi just told her right there.

Right away, Rossi looked over to Emily and with a serious tone in his voice, he answered Emily's question by saying to her, "I think that Aaron Hotchner and Maggie McMahon might have know each other _way before_ this."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Emily Prentiss just stared at Rossi for nearly fifteen seconds before saying to him, "Rossi, are you saying that Hotch and McMahon may have a thing together before all of this?"

Hearing that from Emily's mouth, Rossi gave her a weird look and answered the question, "No, Emily. McMahon seem to be way too young to be having that type of relationship with Aaron. She might be in her mid-twenties while he is only 43 and that could be kind of you know….. weird and creepy."

Agreeing about that but didn't know about what Rossi and Morgan were noticing about McMahon earlier, Emily still want her question to be answer and to do so; she asked them a slight different question. "I know about that, Rossi but you guys hadn't answered my question. What had you notice about Hotch and McMahon when she was with him?"

This only took a few seconds to think about this and the first thing that came out of Rossi's mouth was while thinking about this, "I think that I might have heard her voice before. Probably when Aaron was talking to over the phone a few weeks ago."

"What's it about?" asked Morgan who is relaxing on his chair and along with Emily, he didn't know about this until it came out of Rossi.

Thinking about it more, Rossi told them that a few weeks ago, Rossi was about to come into Hotch's office to have a talk about something when he overheard Hotch's voice, saying to the person he was talking to with, "No, Mags. I just told you that I don't, in your words 'live and breathe for my work'. Yeah, those are my words for helping you find a place here for you and Lucy this weekend. You better stop laughing about this…"

Also wanting to back up Rossi about the something between Hotch and McMahon, JJ stopped from what she was doing and added to the observation, "Rossi, I think that I noticed that between Hotch and McMahon as well about an hour and a half ago. She seems like a great person to be with when I met her and between her and Hotch, it look like a friendship to me."

After hearing that from Rossi and JJ, Emily looked like that she had calm down a bit and said to the older profiler and the blonde liaison, "Was this the answer for it? That Hotch and McMahon are friends and he knows about this before we do and he was trying to help her out with the move from Philly."

Seconds after hearing that, Rossi gave Emily a nod and said to her, "Yeah, Emily. It's just friendship between those two. There's nothing to worry about."

~:~

Meanwhile, when Hotch and Maggie got back to his office minutes later, he let Maggie in first before him and the moment the both of them are inside the room, Hotch closed and locked the room and asked Maggie to sit down because he want to make sure that he did the right thing about replacing her in Reid's place for six weeks and that she's up to do her first profile in her hometown of Philadelphia.

The moment he watched Maggie sitting down on his couch and waiting for him, Hotch grabbed one of the chairs in front of his desk, put it near and in front of where Maggie is sitting on, and sat down on it seconds before asking her about it.

Looking calm as possible, he watched Maggie's blue eyes looking at him before he can say anything, she asked Hotch, "I know about what are you thinking about, Aaron?"

"You do?" seriously asked by Hotch.

Maggie nodded to him, being her way of answering his question and said to him, "Yeah, about you are wondering about this is a good thing or not for me since this is my first time doing this and me coming back to Philly, Aaron and I'm telling you this. I can do this. I know what I can do. Trust me as always. Just like you told me yesterday after Lucy went to bed."

Remembering that and now about to suddenly want to protect her like an overprotective older brother, Hotch holds his hands together while saying to her, "I know that, Mags but I still don't know that you can do this. It might bring back memories for you about your father and I know that was hard for you years ago with it."

"But I know that, Aaron. About what happened to my Dad but I will not let that happen to me and you know me for almost eleven years now. You know who I am and how I get through it. There's nothing to worry about, Aaron." said Maggie who gave him some faith and trust into this, telling him that she's the right for the job but unless…..

"But unless, if you don't think that I am the right person for this, you can tell the team about me being not the right person to do the job and you can sent my butt back to Major Thefts once the plane lands in Philly. How about that, Aaron?" said Maggie who had a smirk on her face when she told him that.

After hearing that, Hotch unexpectedly chuckled at that along with a grin which made Maggie confused for the first time.

Wanting to know why he did that, Maggie looked at him with a soft smile on her face and asked him, "Aaron, was there something funny about what I told you?"

Immediately ended his chuckle and went a little serious about this, Hotch answered Maggie's question by saying to her, "You know that I can't do that because it will make Lucy wondering about where her mother went and will be asking me questions about it."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that, Aaron." said Maggie who understand what Hotch was talking about and she could imagine Lucy doing that to him which sent a smile on her face.

Seeing that smile on her face, Hotch gave her a quick smile and told her that he's fine with that before telling her to get her things as well. Aaron Hotchner is letting her to be part of the team.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

_Night_

_Philadelphia, PA_

--

Maggie was sitting on the bed in her hotel room, trying to read through the case files of the victims to see if there is something to help for the profile of the UnSub. When she and the team got to Philadelphia around three in the afternoon and got to the law enforcement center to meet the lead detectives in the case, Det. Matthew Clark and Det. Dianne Randall. The moment the agents set up everything up in the conference room and talked to the detectives about the updates on the victims, it was already six-thirty in the evening.

Calling it quits for the night, Hotch told his team that tomorrow, they will talk to the victims' family to see if the UnSub had ever been in their lives and take it from there. Hearing that from Hotch, everybody agreed with that and left the center ten minutes later to have dinner at a restaurant near the hotel they are staying at. After having dinner, they went back to the hotel with their bags and a full stomach along with the copies of each of the three victims' files to look through until they come back to the center for another day.

Maggie was sitting Indian-style on the comfy bed, looking through the file of the second victim, Peter O'Neal. O'Neal was a tall, medium-build man with graying dark hair and green eyes in his mid-fifties who worked as an owner of a small diner in Center City with a non-existent criminal record. Since his life had mostly nothing compares to the first and third victims, they do had one thing in common, their personal items wasn't with them.

Looking through O'Neal's file, Maggie was taking notes in her notepad while her cell phone was vibrating. Reaching over to the nightstand where the cell phone was at, Maggie studied the screen and a smile was forming on her face when she saw who was calling her. Once she pressed the 'talk' button with her thumb and put it on the right side of her face, Maggie greeted the person, "Hey, Lucy!"

"Hey, Ma. How are you? How was work? How was Uncle Aaron? Was he okay with you about me waking you up at five in morning?" asked an excited-sounding Lucy. Maggie laughed softly when she heard Lucy saying that to her. "Lucy, I am fine. Work was good and I am pretty sure that Uncle Aaron is doing fine as well and he told me the truth about that. It was the same thing you told me and you two need some separation from each other because of it. Also, how are you, sweetie? How was day care?"

"No, Ma. Don't do that! Uncle Aaron will be mad at you if you do that to us!" said Lucy who doesn't want to stay from Aaron at all once she heard about her mother's situation while sounded really sad about that. Hearing that from her daughter, Maggie also don't want that to happen as well because Lucy is very close to Aaron and would be hard if she let that happen and to repay for saying that, she told her daughter that.

"Luce, I won't let that happen because I like when you and Uncle Aaron are together and I just don't want to ruin it for you guys. Okay with that, Lucy? I am promising you that."

Maggie could imagine Lucy doing her 'thinking' face while waiting for a response from the child right there. About fifteen seconds later, Lucy came back to Earth with one simple response. "I'm okay with that, Ma. I took your promise and can I answer your rest of the questions, please?" Maggie told her sure. "Yeah, Lucy. You can do that. How are you?"

"Good as well, Ma and I like day care because I saw Jack there and we played with his friends the whole time!" said Lucy. "That sounds cool, Lucy. How was Jack?" replied back by Maggie who still had a smile on her face, knowing that Lucy is adjusting well to the move because the little girl get to see two of her favorite people, Aaron and Jack more often.

"Jack is doing well, Ma. I told him that my Ma started working for his Daddy today and he told me that was cool that they get to work together before we ran off to play and plus, he want me to say hi to you for him."

Hearing that, Maggie said to her daughter, "That was nice of Jack for saying that to me and Lucy, can you tell him tomorrow that I really appreciated that and that I say hi back for me?"

There was a few seconds of silence when Maggie asked Lucy before until hearing Lucy's voice again, "Okay, Ma. I will do that and I gotta go now. Cousin Beth told me that it's time for bed like ten minutes ago.", referring to Lucy's eight o'clock bed time and Maggie's cousin from her father's side who she is really close to with and agreed to watch Lucy for Maggie when she went up to Philly for work until she comes back, Beth.

Laughing a bit because Lucy is talking to her a few minutes past her bed time, Maggie also heard a knock coming from outside her door. Before coming over to the door to see the person who was knocking behind it, it looks like that Maggie had to go too. Like Mother, like daughter.

"Good thing to do, Lucy and it looks like that I got to go as well. Good night, Sweetie." said Maggie.

"Okay, Ma. Good night and give Uncle Aaron a kiss on the cheek for me when you see him again? PLEASE!!!!" said a now a bit hyper Lucy. Seconds after hearing that, Maggie could hear Beth's voice, telling Lucy to put the phone down and it's time to go to bed. Lucy told her angry cousin a silent 'fine' before putting the phone down.

Now hearing small footsteps from Lucy and then, the shutting of a door, Maggie smiled a bit herself while shutting her phone closed. Once she did that, Maggie put the phone back on the nightstand and headed over to the door. She put her hand on the doorknob, turned it around, opened the door, and in front of her was Aaron, still wearing his standard suit and tie.

~:~

With a smile forming on her face, Maggie greeted him by saying to her, "Hey, Aaron. Why are you doing here?"

Seeing her standard smile, Hotch looked at her and said to her, "I just want to see how you are doing in the case, Maggie. May I come in?" Maggie nodded to him and answered the question by saying to him, "Sure. Come in." and stepped aside to let him in.

After letting him in, Maggie closed the door behind her and now watching Aaron standing in front of her with his brown eyes staring at her and straight line on his face for his lips, not making a single movement. Seeing that, Maggie flashed a grin at him while saying to him, "You know, Aaron. You can sit down if you want to."

Being straightforward about this, Hotch said to her, "I know that, Maggie. I was just waiting for your permission to do so." and immediately sat down on the end of one of the beds in the room. The moment he sat down, a small grin was appearing on his face while saying to her, "Happy now?" Maggie gave him another grin before sitting down on the bed where her case files are laying at inches away and right across from Aaron.

The moment he saw her sitting down in front of her, Hotch sighed a bit before asking her, "Mags, how are you dealing with the case?" "Nothing much, Aaron. I was studying the O'Neal file and trying to compare to Wilson's before seeing how it goes from there." said Maggie whose blue eyes were staring at Aaron's, telling him her work situation for the night. After saying that, Aaron just stared at her.

Noticing his stare, Maggie knew that there was something wrong with her choice of words and being calm about this, Maggie asked him, "Aaron, are you getting this?"

Hotch just shook his head and answered the question, "Yes, I understand that, Mags but that was not the answer I wanted to hear from you about this." "What's it, then?" asked Maggie.

Thinking about this for a few seconds, Hotch answered the question by saying to her, "Maggie, how are you interacting with the team?"

For her, this took about thirty seconds to think about before looking up to Aaron and saying to him, "Let me see. Rossi, Morgan, JJ, and you had been treating me well and taking me seriously, especially you." She thinks that she might saw a smile forming on Aaron's face but it seems to go away seconds later when she told him that. "I talked to Garcia about something in the case for a bit. Great person but a bit odd through but with Prentiss….."

"What about Prentiss?" asked Hotch.

Again, Maggie took a few seconds to think about this before looking at Aaron again and answered the question, "I think that Prentiss might not like me joining the team."

Hearing that, Hotch looked at Maggie's face when she told him that and from the way it looks from where he's sitting at, "What you meant by that? Usually, Prentiss is a good agent and….."

"I know that, Aaron but when I am around her, I sometimes get a weird vibe around her like that I wasn't what she expected. Also, I heard that the girls thought that I was a guy when they heard about who was replacing your other agent, Reid and I think that it might come from that."

The moment he heard from Maggie, Hotch want to tell her something about it and to do so, he asked Maggie another question. "Maggie, can you sit next to me? I want to tell you something."

"Sure, Aaron. I will do that." replied back by Maggie who sat down next to him. The moment she sat down to him, Hotch turned to her and said to the woman with an explainable tone in his voice while staring at her, "Maggie, Emily Prentiss is usually not like that. A couple of years ago, another agent of mine resigned from the FBI after a bit of a breakdown from what had happened to her months earlier and her replacement was Prentiss. It took a while to get used to her but it worked very well once we got to know her and years later, you came along and it might look like that you might have threaten Prentiss a bit."

"And I know that you are not a threatening person and you want Prentiss to like you but you got to give her some time to get to know you and you won't get these weird vibes again around her soon."

Hearing what Aaron had thought about this, Maggie looked at him again and asked him, "Aaron, are you telling me that I had to be patient about this?"

Nodding to her because the word, 'patient' became the one-word to describe this to Maggie, Hotch answered her question with a grin on his face, "Yeah."

After hearing that from Aaron, Maggie smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek for Lucy's sake!

The moment he got kissed by Maggie, Hotch felt himself blushing a bit and asked her, "What was that for?"

With a the same smile on her face, Maggie answered the question with a real simple answer, "Lucy called me a couple of minutes ago to tell me about her day with your son and asked me to kiss her Uncle Aaron on the cheek for her before she went to bed and by the way, how was the kiss?"

Slowly, a smile was forming on Aaron Hotchner's face right in front of her eyes.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Maggie is starting to feel nervous around Emily Prentiss. Even through that Prentiss seems like a nice, smart and hardworking woman to Maggie, the new agent still think that Prentiss might don't like her.

That morning, Aaron assigned her with Prentiss to meet with the first victim's family to see if there's anything usual during the past few weeks. Maggie had no idea why Aaron could do this to her over twelve hours later but from the talk they had last night at Maggie's hotel room and after he left, the nervousness came back to her and it took her one cold shower to make it go away. After this, she had to talk to Emily Prentiss about the situation between them and hopefully, everything will be okay.

With Prentiss taking the wheel over to Daniel Adams's house near the Philadelphia International Airport, Maggie is sitting on the passenger's seat next to Prentiss in the SUV, hearing nothing but silence. Only a few seconds ago, they were talking about Adams's involvement in the case and it had been fine until the silence took over.

Experiencing this moment and hating the silence between her and Prentiss, Maggie wants to end this but the 'how to do it' part will be going to be hard.

Only a half block away from the Adams home, Maggie ended up taking a minute to think of the words she want to use for the conversation and when they are in front of the small and modest townhouse, Prentiss killed the engine and was about to unlocked her seatbelt when Maggie turned to her and asked, "Prentiss, can I talk to you about something?"

Prentiss is now looking with those dark eyes of her while answering Maggie's question, "Sure, what's it?"

Maggie felt like that she is having a shortage of breath when she asked Prentiss this: "Am I a threat to you?"

Prentiss just stared at Maggie a bit weirdly when Maggie asked her that odd question and answered the question by saying to her, "No, I don't think so. Why are you asking me this, McMahon?"

Hearing that, Maggie looked down for a few seconds to think about this more before looking up to Prentiss and responding back to the older agent, "I am asking you this because of yesterday's happenings…."

"Your first day on the team, right?" asked the calm-sounding Prentiss. Maggie nodded to Prentiss in return and said to her, "Yeah and after us spending some time with each other, you seems nice and smart and hardworking and all but I sometimes felt like that you might don't like me that much because of some reason."

"What's that reason?" asked Prentiss who is smiling a bit to Maggie. Seeing that smile from her, Maggie doesn't know how Prentiss will react to this after seeing the small smile and here she goes.

"I heard that before I came, you along with JJ and Garcia thought that I was a guy but when you saw me as the replacement for Reid, I think that you probably don't like me because of it."

This time, there was only a bit of silence between them until Prentiss is starting to burst out laughing. Maggie got confused when she saw that and ended up looking at the agent next to her oddly. When she was figuring out that Prentiss might saw the look on Maggie's face, she watches Prentiss trying to control her laughter and saying to her, "I'm very sorry about that, McMahon but I don't think of you that way."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Maggie who is now looking at Prentiss. In return, Prentiss looked straight back at her and answered the question, "I think that you are a pretty great person to be with and I am starting to like you because of that, McMahon and I am very sorry about how you thought I was treating you yesterday. You probably thought that I was a bit odd because of it."

Thinking of the complete opposite of the last sentence Prentiss told her, Maggie ended up shaking her head and replied back to her, "No, I don't think that you are a bit odd. I actually thought that you are a cool person and I am starting to like you because of it, Prentiss."

This time, Maggie watches another smile forming on Prentiss's face after saying that and seconds later, Emily Prentiss asked Maggie McMahon another question.

"Hey, you want to greet the Adams instead of me if you're interested in it?"

"Sure. I would like to do that, Prentiss." said Maggie who gave the asker a smile for it. Right away, the women unbuckled their seatbelts and got out of the doors before closing them afterward. Once they were done with that, the both of them were walking up the stairs when something unexpected came out of Maggie's mouth.

"This is so much better than Aaron told me last night." She watches Prentiss slowly turning to her with a look on her face and asking Maggie, "Was you talking about Hotch, right?"

Maggie nodded to her and responded back to Prentiss, "Yeah. I was talking about him. We talked about it last night."

"How long do you know him?"asked Prentiss, who is developing a smile on her face. "About eleven years now since I was fourteen. Why?" said Maggie who is also developing a smile on her face, wanting to know why Prentiss is asking her this.

"Oh, it's just nothing. Don't worry about it, McMahon." answered by Emily Prentiss who pushed the door bell button to be greeted by two of Daniel Adams's loved ones moments later, seeing two female FBI agents with a gun and badges.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

They are almost done with the case. One and a half days later, the UnSub will be not committing his crimes anytime soon. The team was almost done with the profile containing of a description of a tall, bulky male loner in their mid-thirties to early forties who hate men who had received part of the American Dream (having a successful business for O'Neal, being a new owner of a home in the suburbs for Wilson, or having a child being the first person in the family to graduate from college for Adams), to present to the detectives and the officers when Maggie's cell phone was ringing.

After looking at the name of the person who is calling her, Maggie excused herself before walking out of the conference room and into the hallway, Maggie greeted the person with a soft, "Hell-"

"Margaret Grace Lynn McMahon, since when are you going to call me that you are in town?!" This is coming from her very overprotective of a mother, Mary.

Hearing her mother's shouting about not calling Mary a few days ago, Maggie is about to calm her mother down by saying to her quietly in the hallway, "Sssh, Mom. Don't do that."

"Don't do what, Maggie?" asked Mary over the phone. A few seconds later, Maggie answered her mother's question, "Please, don't yell me at work. People could hear you when you did that."

There was a second of silence over the phone before hearing her mother's now soft voice, "Oh, I am very sorry about that, Maggie. Did I embarrass you over there?"

Not seeing a single person in the hallway from where she is standing at, Maggie smiled at herself when she told Mary. "No, Mom. You didn't do that."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Mary again. This time, Maggie shook her head while answering the question again, "No, Mom. How are you? How was work?"

"I'm good here, honey. School just started and so far, the students are going to be fully influenced by the great American writers when June comes along." After her husband's death almost eleven years ago, Mary went back to teaching after spending too many years of being a stay at home mom and years later, now a seventh grade English teacher, a well-liked one in fact, at one of the local middle schools in Philly. "But, Maggie. How was work?"

This took Maggie about a minute to think about before telling her mother, "Work was good. We are almost done with a case…."

"Are you talking about that case the young blonde woman was talking about at that press conference on TV about someone murdering those poor men and only took their personal items after that?", interrupted by her mother once again who asked her that and referring the young blonde woman at the press conference as JJ.

Hearing that from her mother, Maggie nodded and said to her, "Yeah, Mom. That is the one. Why?"

"Well, I am not sure about that, honey. I just wanted to know." said Mary before another phase of silence took over the conversation.

Noticing that and starting to worry about her, Maggie asked Mary right away, "Mom, is everything okay over there?"

After asking her that, Maggie waited for her mother to say something until she heard from Mary, "Yeah, everything is okay over here. Don't worry about it and by the way, how was Aaron? Did he keep you busy with the case?"

Hearing that, Maggie nodded and said to Mary, "Yes, Mom. Aaron kept me busy with the case and that is the reason why I didn't called you yet until now. I didn't find the time to do so."

The moment Maggie told her that, Mary told her something that leads to what Maggie just told her. "I'm fine with that, honey and I have something to ask you."

"What's it, Mom?"

"Well, it involves you and Aaron?" Hearing her and Aaron's names together, it is starting to look like that Mary wanted something from them, something very important. "What involves me and Aaron, Mom?" And then, she heard it.

"Honey, can you and Aaron come over for dinner tonight, please?" asked Mary. Seconds after hearing that, Maggie didn't know what to say expect, "Why, Mom? Did something happen over there?"

"Something likes that, Maggie. I just wanted to see the both of you before you two are heading back to Virginia. Are you okay with that?"

Thinking about this for a while before telling her mother, "Okay, Mom. I'll tell Aaron that and we will see from there."

Hearing her mother's soft and calm voice, telling her daughter, "That's good but can you let me call Aaron instead? I just wanted to tell him myself for Heaven's sakes."

Hearing "Heaven's Sakes" from her mother with that voice of hers, Maggie is starting to disagree about this and asked her, "No, Mom. Let me tell him. It would be better if it's coming from me."

"That's nonsense, Maggie. I'll do it and I'll see you and him tonight, then. Bye." said Mary who ended the call with her daughter and right there, Maggie could hear Aaron's cell phone ringing from the conference room before hearing with that voice of his, "Hotchner."

She could felt his eyes staring at her though the window-blinds the moment she heard that.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Maggie was sitting down at the passenger seat of the SUV, waiting for Aaron to come out of the florist's shop because he have to get something for her mother. While waiting for him, Maggie was trying to keep herself busy by checking for any new messages on her cell phone and wondering about her mother wanting them to come home for dinner that night.

This always happens when Aaron Hotchner comes to Philly to check up on them. Mary would always call him or made Maggie call him when the elder woman would be busy with something and as the results of that, it would always be great. Along with the three of them, her sister, Linda would be here and so does Lucy, who would be so attached to Aaron that the McMahon women are starting to think that Lucy might have a crush on him. Maggie was a bit surprised when she saw Lucy's attraction to him and the moment she saw that, it looked like that Aaron doesn't mind that at all.

But this night is different. It looked like that Linda is coming to tonight's dinner from calling Mary again one and a half hour after catching the UnSub, to see that Linda is coming or not. Also, Lucy can't be there at all since she's in Virginia which is a bit of a shame because Lucy have always been the light of the dinner by what she does during it but they would made it through without her fine but the main point of this dinner is the way her mother was acting during the phone call.

From the other end of the phone call, there was a weird tone in her mother's voice when Maggie asked her about if something happen over there and ended up getting a _"Something likes that, Maggie. I just wanted to see the both of you before you two are heading back to Virginia. Are you okay with that?"_ answer from her. It sounded like that her mother wasn't telling her the truth. Something did happened over there and Maggie doesn't know what it is but she will find out sooner or later at the dinner.

Moments after thinking about that, there was a soft knock on the window. Maggie looked up to see who was doing that and a smile was appearing on her face when she saw Aaron there, holding a small bouquet of white and yellow calla lilies in his left hand. Knowing that she have to let him into the car, Maggie unlocked the driver's door and when he got in, Maggie received them so she can hold them during the drive, and took a long, sweet sniff of the flowers while having the same smile on her face.

"So, do you think that Mary would like them?" asked by Hotch whose voice made the moment even more wonderful to Maggie. After she was done sniffing the calla lilies, Maggie still have the bouquet in her hands when she turned to Aaron and tells him with the still-showing smile on her face, "Since these are her favorites, I am pretty sure that Mom will love them, Aaron."

She watched his chocolate-brown eyes beginning to smile at her before hearing from him, "Thanks, Maggie. I thought that the flowers would cheer your mother up after talking to her earlier." Maggie was a bit confused without knowing it when she heard those words from him while hearing the engine being turned on and Aaron is now driving the car to the home of the McMahons. She turned to him a bit and asked him, "Aaron. What do you mean by that?"

When the car had been stopped by a red light, Hotch turned to her and with a bit serious tone in his voice, "Well, your Mom sounded like she have something to tell us. Something very unusual but she didn't tell us since there was a phase of silence a couple of times during it because she is probably thinking about the words she was planning to use. I also think that she is planning to use the dinner to tell us the truth about it." And drove off again once the traffic light turned green.

Hearing those words made Maggie realized again that the man she is sitting next to is one of the best profilers in the world and she is glad that Aaron uses his profiling skills to do this because she have something important about this to tell him.

"Aaron, I think that what you were saying might be true. Mom does sound like that and I think that I am starting to worry about her." said Maggie whose voice is turning to sound like that.

She can tell that he is starting to notice about how she felt about this by looking at his face and once they were blocks away from the home, another street light turned red. In that moment, Maggie watches Aaron turning to her and with those eyes and that voice of his which is saying to her, "Mags. I know that you are starting to worry about your mother because I can tell from your voice but don't worry about it. Everything will be okay once we get there."

Maggie continued looking at him with a bit of amazement when she heard that from him and in response to his answer with a warm smile on her face, "I know that, Aaron. I just wanted to hear that from you about me worrying about Mom. I wanted to thank you for that."

She saw Aaron smiling at her for a second before hearing him humming a soft tune, probably from somewhere when he was spending time with Jack while knowing that she might have lied a part of what she told him that.

~:~

It was around six-thirty in the evening. The sun have only a half hour before it can set down for the night when they parked in front of the medium-sized, brick row house in Mayfair, a neighborhood in the lower northeast section of Philadelphia.

Knowing that she can't get over her husband's death by staying in the home where they raised their two girls, Mary had to do something. To do that and two months into the mourning, Mary decided to move her and her daughters out of their home in South Philadelphia into another home in Mayfair, a neighborhood where Mary was born and raised in before she met Robert. _"To not let the past in but to continue with our lives a bit better than before. Your father would wanted that for you two, girls."_ Those were the words that Mary told Linda and Maggie about this move to Mayfair. And they stayed there in that home for the past eleven years.

When Maggie and Hotch got out of the SUV and went up the stairs to the front door, Maggie knocked on the dark wooden door and she could heard some loud shouting between her mother and her sister, a few seconds of soft footsteps, and once the door was unlocked, the door was wide open with a woman in her late forties/early fifties, around five-six in height. She have shoulder-length, wavy dark red hair along with bright green eyes surrounded by a small amount of crow's feet, and a warm smile on her pale face while wearing a light and a bit billowy, long-sleeved white shirt and brown pants named Mary McMahon.

Maggie watched her mother looking at them with the green eyes and the smile Mary had put on her face. "Maggie, Aaron. I'm glad that you guys finally came." greeted by Mary who hugged the both of them when they got inside the house. After getting hugged by her mother, Maggie kissed Mary on the cheek and greeted back to her with a smile on her face, "Hi, Mom. It's nice to see you."

Her mother still has the same smile when Maggie told her that. "Maggie, it's nice to see you too." said Mary before turning to the man who is standing next to Maggie, being very patiently. "Hello, Aaron. How are you? How was Jack?"

In return, Hotch smiled at Mary while saying to her, "Hello, Mary. I'm doing well and Jack is the same thing as well. How are you?" Maggie noticed that Mary was a little quiet than usual when Aaron asked her mother that question but it seems to be non-existent. "I'm okay, Aaron. I am a bit tired lately but I'm getting over it."

"But, Mary. If you are tired lately, maybe that you should rest a bit now. We can post-pone the dinner for about thirty minutes or more so you can get some rest." said by Hotch whose eyes are staring straight at Mary, full of worry and wanting what is best for her. Mary disagreed with him about the situation and responded back to him with a small smile, "No, Aaron. I don't really need that right now because dinner is almost ready and the recipe of the dinner doesn't tell me to keep it cold."

Hotch continued looking at her for a few seconds before telling her with his own small smile, "Fine, then. I agreed with you on that but if you really want to take a rest, just tell us. Okay with that, Mary?"

Seconds have passed and the living room went into silence mode when Mary thought about this before looking at Hotch with and answering his question, "I'm fine with that, Aaron. I'll do that when I needed to."

"Good, then and Mary, we got something for you." said Hotch. "What's it?" asked Mary. Hotch smiled at Mary one more time before turning to Maggie, who presented the older woman with a bouquet of calla lilies. "Here, Mom." said a smiling Maggie who gave Mary the bouquet of calla lilies. Mary's face literally lit up when she saw her favorite flowers. She looked very shocked when she saw those because she didn't expected this from them since other thought were filling her brain the whole day. After she looked at the beautiful lilies, she kissed her daughter on the cheek, thanking her for the lilies but this isn't Maggie's idea. It was Aaron Hotchner's.

"Oh, Mom. You don't have to do that to me." said Maggie whose cheeks went pink after she got kissed by her mother. "Why not, Honey?" asked Mary who still in love with the lilies. This only took Maggie a few seconds to answer with a smile appearing on her face when she told her mother, "Because this was Aaron's idea." Hearing that from her, Mary looked a little confused but it went away a bit when she turned to Aaron who is still standing there, doing nothing but looking at the two women. "Aaron, you don't have to do that for me. You know that…"

"But it seems like the perfect thing to do for you. I just thought that the flowers could cheer you up after the talk we have earlier but do you like them, Mary?" replied back by Hotch who is studying Mary right now, hoping that she likes them especially from having that phone call. In return, Mary started to smile at him and answered his question, "Yes, Aaron. I do love them. Thank you."

Mary was about to give him a hug and kiss before turning to Maggie with the bouquet and asked her daughter if she can put them in a vase full of water for her. "Sure, Mom. I can do that." said a smiling Maggie who got the bouquet from her and went to the kitchen after getting told by Mary to say hi to Linda who is already in there.

When Maggie got inside the small kitchen, Linda is here as promised, looking through the upper oak kitchen cabinet for some plates. "Hey, Linda." said Maggie. "Hey, Maggie." said back by Linda who turned to her little sister and the moment she saw her, the first thing that came out of her mouth was: "Jesus, Maggie. You're doing the same blushing that you gave to Aaron the first time you met him. Did something good happen over there?"

Hearing that from Linda, Maggie was trying to stop the blushing from appearing on her face but it seems to be not working. It felt like that the blushing have to be there. Instead of trying to stop it, Maggie just let it go and answered Linda's question, "Yeah, it is. Aaron got Mom flowers!" and represented them to her sister.

"Holy crap! Those are beautiful! That is a sweet thing that Aaron did!" said Linda who is admiring the calla lilies more and more before Maggie stopped showing them in order to put them in a vase for her mother. When Maggie founded an empty vase and filled it with water from the sink, she put the water-filled vase next to the bouquet on the kitchen counter and begin to arranging them while Linda asked her another question. "How was Mom's reaction when she saw those?"

Maggie was getting rid of the plastic wrap that was covering the stems of the lilies and about to put them in the vase when she answered it, "Well, Mom thought that the flowers were my idea until I told her the truth. After I told her that, I got kicked out of the room so she can thank Aaron one-on-one."

Linda started to laugh when she heard that until Maggie gave her the "don't do that" look on her face before she realized that was pretty funny and laughed at that as well. The two sisters were talking about other things until Linda realized that the roast chicken was done cooling down and it's almost time for dinner.

"Okay, then. The chicken had been cooling down long enough." said Linda, who was checking the honey-brown chicken. "Can you tell Mom and Aaron that it's time for dinner, Maggie?"

Maggie was in the dining table, putting the vase of calla lilies in the middle of the round oak table, surrounding by four plates, four glasses, spoons, forks, knives, and cloth napkins. Thinking that her mother would like them being there, Maggie heard that and said to Linda, "Sure, sis."

After answering the question, Maggie went to the doorway to the living room and noticed them, talking on the couch. Mary was doing all of the talking while Aaron didn't have his suit jacket, revealing only his light-blue dress shirt and listening patiently to Mary's every word. Maggie was starting to notice those hairy arms of his when the sleeves are rolled-up, imagining them being around someone but she immediately stopped the thinking and said loudly to them, "Dinner is done!"

~:~

She was sitting next to Aaron, trying not to notice his good looks from what she saw earlier and focusing on her dinner and the conversation. With the chicken, there was sweet yellow corn, green peas, and roasted potatoes being eaten and drank down by iced tea. They talked about stuff that had happened to them. Some were about Mary's, the most important thing came out of it was that Mary is starting to date someone from the McMahons' church for the first time in years. Some were about Linda's who is an E.R. resident at Thomas Jefferson Hospital, talking about something she did hours earlier at her shift. The rest were from Hotch and Maggie, who told Mary and Linda about what Lucy did to Maggie a few days earlier and noticed that the experience was typical Lucy but there was no talk about the case or anything related to them until now.

For the first time in about forty-five minutes, Mary was quiet again. Hotch along with Maggie and Linda noticed that and Hotch asked her, "Mary, is there something wrong?"

"Yes, there is, Aaron." said Mary who broke the quietness. "Mom, what's it?" asked Maggie who was staring at her mother with blue eyes of worry. Immediately, Mary got out of her chair and went into the living room, probably to get something from there. Seconds later, Mary came toward them with a small cardboard box in her hands. She put the box in front of Hotch to show it to him while saying to him, "This."

Seeing the opened box in front of him, Hotch looked inside the box and noticed that there is an old, round gold pocket watch, surrounding by bubble-wrap. Hotch carefully removed the pocket watch from the box to study it. He did that for fifteen seconds until he noticed some engraving on the gold surface, "R.T.A.M."

"What the…" said Hotch when he saw the lettering. Hearing that from him, Maggie asked Aaron, "What's it?" Right away, Hotch showed Maggie the pocket-watch with the engraving and then, she realized why her mother sounded like something bad came to her earlier. The pocket-watch belonged to Robert Thomas Andrew McMahon.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Maggie kept staring at the pocket watch that Aaron is showing her in his hand. She is completely speechless at that moment because she hadn't seen her father's pocket watch in well, years. Flashes of him and his times with the pocket watch when he was alive were filling her mind and she remembered them too well.

She was there when he brought the pocket watch from a seller at the flea market, getting a good deal on it from its expensive price. She was there when he went to the jeweler to get it engraves with his initials on the gold surface, "R.T.A.M." and he was proud of what he did to his precious pocket watch. She remembered that he carried it with him at all times, never leaving his home without it. He even let Maggie hold it a couple of times when he was getting himself ready to go out but for only a minute or so.

Out of these memories, Maggie knew that the pocket watch was one of her father's favorite things in the world and she felt like that she was losing a piece of him when she founded out that his murderer took his pocket watch away from his loved ones but now, there it is. Eleven years later in Aaron Hotchner's palm.

"Mary, when do you got this from?" asked Hotch, who put the pocket watch back into the cardboard box after showing it to Maggie and now, looking at a still standing Mary with his eyes. Mary noticed his eyes staring at her and she doesn't know what to say to him. Watching her mother being so shook up from where she is sitting at, Maggie wanted to help Mary out with this but she knows that her mother would make her way through this because her mother is a very determining woman and intelligent as well.

"I don't know, Aaron. Maybe before I went to work." said Mary who managed to say one sentence to Hotch after thinking about the right words to say to him that doesn't sounded so shook up. "Which was that?" "Around 7:30 in the morning. It was on the doormat when I was getting out of the house."

"Did you see anyone who came up to your door and put the box there?" asked Hotch. In return, Mary shook her head and said to him, "No."

Seeing that head shake, Hotch sighed to himself a bit before looking up to Mary who is now sitting down between Linda and Hotch and asking her another question about what had happened. "Mary, you called me and Maggie around eleven in the morning which was about three and a half hours after you first saw the box. Why did you take so long to call us?"

This sent Mary into thinking again and watching her thinking out her thoughts was a bit frustrating to Maggie. She doesn't know what her mother was thinking about since Maggie seems to not have her mother's own wits at the moment but when it came, the thoughts were exactly what Mary McMahon would use.

"Aaron, I tried to put my first thoughts about the box aside because I had to get through an important lecture for my students today but when I was teaching them, my thoughts went back to the box and it was driving me nuts. I was kept thinking about it all during work and knowing that I had to get it over with it, I went back home when I was taking my free period."

"What happens next?" asked Hotch. Hearing that question, Mary's green eyes were staring at her youngest daughter while answering Hotch's question, "I picked up the box, got myself inside the house after closing the door, use a butcher knife to open the lids since it was covered with duct tape, and then, I saw Robert's pocket watch."

There was a small length of silence occurring in the dining room between the four of them but it ended when Hotch turned to Maggie and asked her, "Mags, can you check if there is a return address on the box?"

Maggie nodded at him and begins to close the lids together in order to get a clear return address. Scanning the closed box, Maggie founded the return address written in thick black block letters and answered Hotch's question, "Yes, there is one."

"What's the address?" Looking at it again and saying it aloud to Aaron and her mother and sister around the round table, "1903 Tasker Street, which is in South Philly." After saying that, Maggie heard someone mumbling to themselves, "Shit."

The person who just cursed had a male voice, and deep-sounding. There is one person with them there that have the kind of voice. To see who did that, Maggie turned to Aaron, who looked kind of pissed off. Before she took the job of a profiler, Maggie almost never seen Aaron Hotchner looking like that before and she had seen that look a few times during her first case now. She ended up admitting to herself that she literally thought that he was about to turn into the Hulk when she saw that.

"Aaron, what's it?" asked Maggie whose eyes are staring at his face. Hearing Maggie's question, Hotch turned to her and answered her question, "I had seen that address before."

"What? When?" asked Maggie. This time, Hotch watched Maggie with his brown eyes and answered those, "Recently today, actually." Then, Maggie had realized what he was talking about and she was about to take her turn to say "shit." Loudly.

"Maggie McMahon, don't say that aloud at the dinner table!" said Mary when she heard that from her daughter with that determining look on her face. Maggie saw that look on her mother's face and said back to her, "Sorry about that, Mom. But I had to because the team, Aaron, and I just arrested that man who lived at that address this afternoon."

"What?!" asked Mary and looking to Hotch to get his thought about this, Hotch told her. "I think that we weren't done with the case. We just put a copycat killer in jail."

"What was that means?" asked Linda who had been quiet during the conversation before now. To answer Linda's question, Hotch turned to Linda and answered her question straightforwardly, "A copycat killer is someone whose criminal acts that are modeled on previous cases that have been reported in the media."

"Why someone like that does that?" asked Mary. This time, Maggie answered her mother's question for Hotch by saying to her, "Mom, people who do that in most cases have previous criminal records, mental health problems or histories of violence, suggesting that the effect of the media made them interested in the way the criminals' behavior than the actual criminals themselves."

Out of nowhere, Mary covered her hand over her face while saying aloud, "Oh, no. I ended up raising a copycat killer!", referring to Maggie's interest in the subject back then from reading the newspapers and watching the news every day. Hearing that from her mother, Maggie ended up giving her mother a weird look and said to her, "Mom, you didn't raised a copycat killer! I didn't turn out to be like that."

"I know that, Maggie. When you explained to me about why they does that, it just brings out memories of you back then." said Mary whose green eyes are staring at Maggie.

Knowing that he have to do something about this, Hotch stood from his chair and said to the McMahon women, "Ladies, I have to make an important call right now about this. I'll be upstairs when any of you needed anything."

Immediately, Hotch grabbed the box off the dining room table and with it, he went out of the room and after hearing his footsteps to go up the stairs and make that important phone call, the three women are sitting down on their chairs, not knowing what will happen next.

Two minutes of silence later, both Maggie and Linda noticed that their mother is being very quiet again and looked like that she is about to be all shook up about what she learned a while ago. In order to tell Mary that everything will be okay, Maggie put her arms around Mary to give her a hug while saying to her softly, "Hey, Mom."

"What's it, Maggie?" asked Mary who slightly turned to the daughter who asked her that question and looked at her with her eyes. "You do know that Aaron knows what he is doing to help us out with this…situation."

Mary gave Maggie a blank look on her face when she heard that question and said, "Yes, Maggie. I do know that. What are you asking me this?"

Maggie kissed her mother's cheek before saying to her, "Well, since Aaron is making the call right now. I am thinking that Linda and I should make you feel comfortable about the situation with Dad's pocket watch."

"Like what?" asked Mary whose smile is appearing on her face, along with her green eyes. Maggie had no idea about that and doesn't know what to say to her until Linda decided to talk about the comforting.

"Like that Maggie and I should make you some tea and while you are drinking it and relaxing, we should do the dishes and everything we used for dinner." said Linda.

Hearing that from her sister, Maggie turned to her brunette and green eyed sister and gave her the "What?" look on her face. She didn't expect to do that and hope that Linda will change her mind as soon as possible but Linda ignored her sister by looking at Mary with a sweet smile on her face, "What do you think, Mom?"

This took Mary only a minute to think about until looking at her two daughters with a smile on her face and bright green eyes staring at them. "I'm fine with that, girls. Go do that for me and Maggie?"

"Yeah, Mom?" asked Maggie who is about to get up and gather the dirty dishes off the table. Right away, Mary gave Maggie that determining look while saying to her, "Please don't pull that look at the dinner table or anywhere else?" Maggie ended up promising her mother about that deal.

~:~

Fifteen minutes later, Maggie and Linda were back in the kitchen, finishing up the dishes along with the glasses and kitchen utensils and putting them into the dishwasher while Mary was sitting a few feet away from them at the kitchen table, relaxing with a cup of steaming tea. They couldn't get over the fact that their favorite memories about Robert McMahon are coming back to them.

Maggie was talking about her time with him when she was about ten years old and the both of them went to their first baseball game together, just the two of them and remembering that the Phillies were winning the game they went to when Hotch came into the kitchen.

Noticing that Mary was sitting down on her chair, drinking some of her tea while her daughters were at the sink, putting the last of the dishes into the dishwasher, Hotch immediately interrupted what they were doing with a, "Ladies, I have something to tell you."

"Yeah, Aaron. What's it?" asked Maggie who just turned to Hotch after putting her last dish in the dishwasher and listening to what Hotch is about to say to them. Her mother and daughter are doing the same thing as her.

Seeing three sets of eyes staring at him, Hotch cleared his voice a bit and answered Maggie by saying to the women, "I just spoke to the team and the leading detectives about the box containing Robert McMahon's pocket watch and the theory about this connecting to the UnSub who just got arrested who might be a copycat killer and well…"

"Well, what? What are you and your team are planning to do?" asked Mary who is staring at the profiler who are helping the McMahons about this situation.

Hotch looked at Mary for a second before looking at Linda and Maggie and saying to them, "Well, the team and I are going to pull an all-nighter, looking through the case with Robert's murder and comparing it to what the UnSub did recently before we get some answers from him about this."

Out of the blue, Maggie raised her hand. Hotch noticed Maggie's hand-raising and said to her with a smile, "Mags, you do know that you don't have to raise your hand?"

Maggie ended up noticing about what she just did and immediately put her hand down. "I know that, Aaron but I had something to ask you."

"What's it?" asked Hotch, who is staring at Maggie. This took Maggie only about thirty seconds to think up before looking at him and saying, "Can I come with you?"

Hotch just stared at Maggie when she asked him that question. A while ago, Aaron Hotchner was considering about bringing Maggie with him to work the case but he couldn't do that since she is a member of the victim's family. He knew that Maggie could be a big help with the case but it ended up bringing some cons, one of them being that she is part of the McMahon family. He doesn't know what to tell her about this from looking at the eager look on her face but he had to tell her about this.

"Maggie, I had some bad news to tell you about that." "What's it, then?" asked Maggie whose blue eyes are staring straight at him. He couldn't stop looking at them right now since those eyes were the bluest that he ever saw since the first time he met her but he had to stop this feeling and get serious about this.

He did get serious about this and ended up telling her, "I am sorry about this, Maggie but I cannot let you help out the case."

"Why not?" asked Maggie who looked very serious about what Hotch just told her. Hotch couldn't bear looking at the serious look on her face but managed saying to her, "Because you were Robert McMahon's daughter. You are part of his family and since no one who were close to the victim cannot help out, it is the policy and I had to do so."

"Damn the policy, Aaron. Just let me help out the case." said Maggie, who got a little sick of this so-called no personal connection to the victim's policy. Maggie McMahon just wants to help out but Aaron Hotchner couldn't let her.

"I know that, Maggie! I know that you want to help out but those are the rules and you had to follow them if you want to make the case any better." He thought that Maggie was about to spit on him when he told her that but she didn't do so. She just looked straight at him before walking away from the sink, passed by Hotch and Mary, and out of the kitchen.

Hotch didn't want her to leave. He was hoping that the two of them would work something out about this but Maggie didn't let him. She just left him with anger in her body. Hotch didn't thought about the incident that much since it was around 7:45 and he told Dave that he will meet them at the law enforcement center at 8 so he have to hurry and go.

Noticing that the dinner had became a bit of a huge mess, Hotch turned to Mary who was dead-on silence during his conversation with Maggie and asked the older woman, "I am sorry to leave here like this but I had to go now."

"That's okay, Aaron. Good luck with the case." said Mary, who smiled at him. Hotch saw that and nodded at Mary before saying to her, "Tell Maggie that I will call her when I get done with the case."

Mary told him that she's okay with it and the moment Hotch left the house, Mary turned to Linda, who was done with the dishes a long time ago. She took a long sip of her tea and the moment she put the yellow mug down on the coaster, Linda asked her a question.

"Mom, how on Earth on what just happened?" Mary just looked at Linda and answered that question by saying to her, "I don't know but I had to talk to your sister about this to straighten things out."


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

The moment Mary got to the top of the stairs; she noticed that Maggie's bedroom door is fully closed. Seeing that but knowing that Maggie sometimes shut the world out when she get pisses out by closing the door, Mary couldn't let her daughter do that. She saw what happened between her and Aaron. She was there. Those two used to be close to each other but in this rate, this could develop to something not good and Mary doesn't want that to happen.

To get Maggie to talk to her, Mary walked over to the first door on the right and knocked softly on the oak door. At first, it looked like that she is not there in her bedroom but on the second try, Mary could hear Maggie's lovely voice, saying to her, "Come in, unless that you are Aaron Hotchner so get the hell out!"

"Maggie, it's me, Mom. May I come in?" asked Mary. "Are you sure about that?" "I'm sure about that, Darling."

There was a second of silence and Mary knew that this is going to be a bad idea until she heard, "Okay, then. You can come in, Mom."

Mary smiled when she heard that from Maggie. She put her hand on the doorknob and let herself in. She looked around the room and finally founded her. Maggie is sitting on her desk chair near her desk, silently reading one of her books. Mary felt a soft breeze in the room, knowing that Maggie had opened up her window to not let the room be all stuffy. Also, there is someone else in the room but that someone is full of cotton and keeping one of its owners company. It is a Winnie the Pooh bear.

Noticing the yellow bear with its faded red shirt and smiling at her and Maggie, Mary smiled back at the stuffed bear and said to Maggie, "Aw! It looks like that Lucy had forgotten to bring Pooh bear with her."

"I'm guessing that she does." said Maggie who looked at Pooh bear for a moment before turning to her mother and saying to her, "Hey, Mom."

"Hey, Maggie. How are you feeling right now?" asked Mary, who is asking the question as warmly as possible. "I'm doing fine here, now. It turned out that reading and Pooh bear had kept me from blowing up stream." Mary noticed that Maggie is about to turn her back to her but she doesn't. Maggie just turned her chair toward her and looking at her with long reddish-brown hair framing her face and those blue eyes are staring at that, doing the same thing that Robert sometimes looked at her with when he was alive. A mixture of hope but questionable.

"Mom, why are you asking me this?" asked Maggie, still doing that stare to her. Noticing it again, Mary cleared her voice a bit before looking at her daughter again, "Honey, this is about what happened between you and Aaron earlier?"

"Mom, I do not want to talk about it." "I know that, Maggie but we still have to talk about it. It's for the greater good." responded back by Mary, who doesn't take this type of talk at all, even though that she is doing this to her adult daughter. "Do you want to do this with me?"

Maggie was very silence about this but it seems to go away when a small smile appeared on Maggie's face and answered her mother's question with one word, "Fine."

"Good, then and sit next to me." which is requesting by Mary to Maggie. Immediately, Maggie got up from her chair and sat next to Mary on her bed, which is near to the window. With the both of them sitting on the soft quilted covered bed, Mary put her hand on Maggie's and said to her with a lovely voice, "Maggie, I know that Aaron had got you upset today but he was trying to do that the right thing for you."

"But Mom, he didn't let me try to help. I meant that we both have the same job but he is still trying to protect me from it. He knows that I am not a teenager anymore but he still doesn't understand." said Maggie with a tone of anger in her voice.

"He does understand about that, Maggie. He does and…" Mary was about to say about some more about his understanding but Maggie interrupted her speaking. "What are you saying about this?"

This time, Mary holds Maggie's hands a little tighter when she told her this. "He knows that you are a hard-working profiler. Actually, he called me on the weekend you and Lucy moved to Virginia for the job."

Maggie looked very shocked when Mary let that comes out of her mouth. "Whoa, Mom. Since when Aaron called you?"

"I think that it was around nine at night when I got the call. He told me that he just got back from your place and told me first about Lucy's little pizza coma."

A smile was appearing on Maggie's face when she told her about that. Mary smiled at Maggie as well before heading back to the talk, "He also told her that you and him had a long talk about the job while Lucy slept and with the words he used, he seems well, excited about you being with him for six weeks."

"What do you means about that?" asked Maggie. Mary cleared her voice again and said to her while looking straight in the eyes, "Margaret, he told me that he knew that you're right for the job. He knows that this will be harsh work for you to deal with but he know that you can do it because he knows you too well and your work ethics. You're a good person but very hard-working and is willing to do anything for the job. He really appreciated you being there, helping out."

"But you do know the rules and you can't help out on certain things. I know that you loved your father so much and wanted to find his killer but rules are rules. You can't do it all. You just can't."

There is another batch of silence between them until Maggie looked at Mary. "Mom, are you telling that I cannot do everything and I just have to sit out on certain things." Mary nodded to her daughter and said, "Yes, Aaron and I would want that for you. We just don't want to see you all worn-out and Lucy couldn't play with you after work because of it."

Maggie laughed at the last words Mary told her in the sentence and ended up giving her mother a hug. Mary returned the hug to her daughter and asked her another question, "Honey, are you okay with everything now?"

"I am, Mom. I am okay with everything." "Good, then and Maggie?" asked Mary, who just kissed her daughter on the forehead. "Yeah, Mom?" Eyeing the Winnie the Pooh bear on the desk, Mary asked her to bring the bear back to Lucy so she could get some sweet dreams in Virginia. In return, Maggie told her, "Sure."

~:~

Maggie couldn't sleep. It was around twelve-thirty in the morning and she is still wide-awake. She had tossed and turned for an hour now. She also pretended to close her eyelids in order to fall asleep but that doesn't work. She had tried everything she could to catch some sleep but yet, her brain told her not to do that. Her mind is full-on about her father's case.

Every time she closes her eyes, the image of her father kept appearing and every time she opens her eyes, the image of him disappeared. She got most of his genes from the tall height to the blue eyes to the 'don't take any bullcrap' seriousness.

She remembered what he looked like on the day he died. He was wearing a brown sports jacket, khakis, and a navy blue polo shirt with brown loafers on his feet. His graying hair was cut very short like a crew cut from the week before and she ended up remembering the last thing she ever did to him: She kissed him on the cheek and told him that she'll see him later before walking out of the house for school. He might had smiled at her in return and told her 'see you later'.

From thinking about this, Maggie realized that no one will ever replace him, not even Aaron who always seems like an older brother to her. Robert McMahon always is in her heart and soul and she'll let it always be like that, no matter what.

Maggie imagined what her father would say to her if he's still alive. He would say to her that she don't have to take anyone's bullcrap about these things, even if that came from your mother. Go help out on the case, Maggie. Don't worry about what will happen after this. Things will hopefully going to be okay. Just make sure that the killer goes to where he belongs. I will always love you, no matter what.

This sent Maggie into tears when she heard his deep voice, saying those words. He always believed in her. Always cared about her and he would definitely want this from her. He would definitely want this from her. To grant her father's wish, Maggie has a plan.

In order to do that, Maggie got out of her bed and put on some clothes: jeans, a v-neck shirt, and a brown jacket since the room felt cold from the opened window. After she did that, Maggie went to the bathroom to wash her face, brushed her teeth and also her hair with a hairbrush from going bed-head. The moment she came back from the bathroom, she put her cell phone into her jacket pocket before heading to her mother's bedroom.

Mary was sound asleep in her bed when Maggie came into the room. With a piece of written paper in her hand, Maggie put the paper on the nightstand and kissed her mother on the cheek and said silently to her, "Don't worry about me, Mom. Everything will be okay after this."

She watched her sleeping mother for a few seconds and leaving the room to get herself downstairs to get the keys with the note on the nightstand,

_Mom, I am driving over to work with your car. Don't worry. I'll bring it back to you when I get done with work. Maggie._

With everything she needed, Maggie unlocked the silver Accord's driver door, and got herself into the car. The moment she got into the car, Maggie pulled the engine, got the car out of its parking space, and drove off, hoping that people who knows her will understand.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about the small amount of Hotchness, guys but that will come along with our team in the next chapter I am doing in my Birthday weekend this week. Thanks for reading the story. :)**


End file.
